Paani Foundation (www.paanifoundation.in) is a grassroots movement focused on rural transformation through sustainable water management and agriculture. Since 2022, their flagship program, the Satyamev Jayate Farmer Cup, has fostered a powerful ecosystem of farmer collectivization across Maharashtra.
Through this platform, farmer groups compete by working together to:
- Reduce input costs
- Improve crop yields and incomes
- Minimize chemical dependency
- Promote environmentally responsible practices
The Farmer Cup is not just a competition, It is also a platform that inspires, shares knowledge, and builds strategic partnerships to empower farmers at scale. Some of the key features of the Farmer cup are:
- A unique, large-scale competition promoting sustainable farming practices
- Strong emphasis on collectivization and peer learning
- Scientific training and access to expert-developed agricultural SOPs
- Significant improvement in farmer incomes and climate resilience
- Dramatic rise in women-led participation
The initiative has grown rapidly-from 1,500 farmer groups across 39 talukas in 2022 to 4,360 groups in 2024. A particularly inspiring highlight is the 46-fold increase in participation by all-women farmer groups, reflecting the program's inclusive and empowering ethos.
Paani Foundation's Satyamev Jayate Farmer Cup is a competition among farmer collectives in Maharashtra aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and enhancing farmer livelihoods. The program empowers farmers with scientific knowledge, training, and a support network to adopt climate-resilient practices, reduce cultivation costs, and improve profits. By fostering collectivization and knowledge-sharing, the initiative benefits farmers by enabling them to build prosperous, climate-resilient, farmer-owned enterprises.
- Impacted 6,000 villages
- Created 550 billion liters of water storage
- Supported 50,000+ farmers in 4,360 collectives, including nearly 2000 all-women groups
Partnership Overview
Koita Foundation is proud to partner with Paani Foundation to support the digital transformation of the Farmer Cup as it scales statewide in 2026-from 46 talukas to all 350 talukas of Maharashtra.
Together, we are developing a comprehensive mobile app that will serve both farmers and the Paani Foundation team. The app will:
- Deliver timely, guided SOPs across the crop cycle
- Provide reminders and actionable insights for farmers
- Celebrate milestone achievements to keep farmers motivated
- Streamline backend operations for efficient program monitoring and management
This digital platform will play a critical role in enabling farmers to adopt sustainable practices at scale, while ensuring Paani Foundation can effectively manage the program’s expanded footprint.